Center on Central and TACA hold birthday party for kids with autism

Earlier this summer in a small yellow house on West Central Avenue in Tredyffrin a group of children and their parents went to a birthday party.

Some children made birthday cards in a room on the first floor; others played drums, xylophones or another instrument in a room upstairs; and others tried to hula hoop and learned to dance in a separate room upstairs. But all of the children wore a name tag with his or her birthday month on it because it wasn’t just one child’s birthday party; it was Everybody’s Birthday Party – an event for children with autism held at the Center on Central.

“It really touched my heart,” said Katie Opher, program manager at the center. As many parents came up to her and said things like, “‘well my kid has never really been to a birthday party before, or never been invited, or we were not able to have a party.’ So I felt like we were really providing a service to the families.”

The event was free and full with about 40 people. The center’s space is limited, so in the future Opher said maybe they could have a second party at a different time or on a different day.

It was organized by Honey Rinicella and Pattie Moor from Talk About Curing Autism (TACA), Pennsylvania chapter, a national nonprofit organization that educates and supports families affected by autism.

“Kids with autism almost never get invited to birthday parties,” said Rinicella, of West Whiteland, who has twin boys on the spectrum. That can be because “people don’t understand, they are scared of judgment,” or the “sensory stimulation sometimes can be too much” for the children.

Rinicella and Moor chose the Center on Central as the venue because they have worked with Opher before and felt it was a “safe environment,” said Rinicella.

The center holds birthday parties regularly, but it also offers creative arts activities for children through adults. It was not only a great space for the event, but Opher was also able to staff the event.

“I provided creative arts therapists because it was really important to have group leaders for the special needs kids who would make the activities meaningful,” said Opher.

There was a music therapist, an arts therapist and dance movement therapist at each of the stations that were set up in a different room of the house. But the children were welcome to switch activities as they pleased.

“It was also very free flow, coming and going. So if a kid had had enough of one activity, they didn’t have to sit still and be in a group for 45 minutes which sometimes happens at a regular birthday party,” said Opher. “The way the center is set up, it’s a house, so people felt comfortable and the kids kind of just went from group to group.”

Jess Houser, the music therapist at the event, thought that the free flow worked because some children who came into her room seemed overstimulated by the instruments, but others never wanted to leave.

“I was just focusing on making sure that everybody was safe and that they were able to have access to the different things that they wanted to try,” Houser said. “A lot of the kids are very sensory so they wanted to be able to touch things.”

This event was the first of its kind for both TACA and the center, and both are interested in doing it again. But next year Rinicella would like to provide more activities that engage the children for longer and more therapists for support.

“The first time you do something is great, the second time is always better,” she said.

But on the whole, she felt it was a success.

“The happiest component for me was seeing children accepted in a safe environment with their peers of all varying abilities,” said Rinicella. “Our goal is to offer a family friendly accepting environment, and I feel like we accomplished that.”

After about an hour and a half of art, music and movement everyone went outside for cupcakes, a goodie bag and more free play for about a half hour. Opher said that she noticed how some children came in uncomfortable and reserved but watched their interactions progress throughout the day.

“It’s neat how the arts can help. It takes down those verbal barriers so then people can be together in their arts activity like the hula hoops, or the instruments,” said Opher. “It’s very accessible.”